Decentralization: an incomplete ambition

Nathan Schneider 2019. Decentralization: an incomplete ambition. Journal of Cultural Economy. 12 (4), pp. 265-285. https://doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2019.1589553

TitleDecentralization: an incomplete ambition
TypeJournal article
AuthorsNathan Schneider
Abstract

Decentralization is a term widely used in a variety of contexts, particularly in political science and discourses surrounding the Internet. It is popular today among advocates of blockchain technology. While frequently employed as if it were a technical term, decentralization more reliably appears to operate as a rhetorical strategy that directs attention toward some aspects of a proposed social order and away from others. It is called for far more than it is theorized or consistently defined. This non-specificity has served to draw diverse participants into common political and technological projects. Yet even the most apparently decentralized systems have shown the capacity to produce economically and structurally centralized outcomes. The rhetoric of decentralization thus obscures other aspects of the re-ordering it claims to describe. It steers attention from where concentrations of power are operating, deferring worthwhile debate about how such power should operate. For decentralization to be a reliable concept in formulating future social arrangements and related technologies, it should come with high standards of specificity. It also cannot substitute for anticipating centralization with appropriate mechanisms of accountability.

JournalJournal of Cultural Economy
Journal citation12 (4), pp. 265-285
ISSN1753-0350
1753-0369
Year2019
PublisherTaylor & Francis
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2019.1589553
Web address (URL)https://doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2019.1589553
Publication dates
Published04 Jul 2019

Related outputs

Governable Spaces: Democratic Design for Online Life
Nathan Schneider 2024. Governable Spaces: Democratic Design for Online Life. University of California Press.

Perverse attraction: Idolatry, pornography, and the making of infrastructure
Cassandra Dana and Nathan Schneider 2024. Perverse attraction: Idolatry, pornography, and the making of infrastructure. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science. 59 (1), pp. 302-320. https://doi.org/10.16995/zygon.11013

Governable Stacks against Digital Colonialism
Schneider, N. 2022. Governable Stacks against Digital Colonialism. tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society. 20 (1). https://doi.org/10.31269/triplec.v20i1.1281

The Tyranny of openness: what happened to peer production?
Nathan Schneider 2022. The Tyranny of openness: what happened to peer production? Feminist Media Studies. 22 (6), pp. 1411 - 1428. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2021.1890183

From Scalability to Subsidiarity in Addressing Online Harm
Amy A. Hasinoff and Nathan Schneider 2022. From Scalability to Subsidiarity in Addressing Online Harm. Social Media + Society. 8 (3). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221126041

Admins, mods, and benevolent dictators for life: The implicit feudalism of online communities
Nathan Schneider 2022. Admins, mods, and benevolent dictators for life: The implicit feudalism of online communities. New Media & Society. 24 (9), pp. 1965 - 1985. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820986553

Exit To Community
Mannan, N. and Schneider, N. 2021. Exit To Community. Georgetown Law Technology Review. 5 1.

Modular Politics
Nathan Schneider, Primavera De Filippi, Seth Frey, Joshua Z. Tan and Amy X. Zhang 2021. Modular Politics. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction. 5 (CSCW1) 16. https://doi.org/10.1145/3449090

No Revolution without Religion
Schneider, N. 2021. No Revolution without Religion. in: Bradatan, Costica and Simon, Ed (ed.) The God Beat: What Journalism Says about Faith and Why It Matters Broadleaf Books.

Enabling Community-Owned Platforms
Schneider, N. 2021. Enabling Community-Owned Platforms. in: Moore, M. and Tambini, D. (ed.) Regulating Big Tech: Policy Responses to Digital Dominance Oxford University Press.

Editorial: Peer Governance in Online Communities
De Filippi, P. and Schneider, N. 2021. Editorial: Peer Governance in Online Communities. Frontiers in Human Dynamics. 3 771586. https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2021.771586

Effective voice: Beyond exit and affect in online communities
Seth Frey and Nathan Schneider 2021. Effective voice: Beyond exit and affect in online communities. New Media & Society. 25 (9), pp. 2381 - 2398. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211044025

Mediated ownership: capital as media
Nathan Schneider 2020. Mediated ownership: capital as media. Media, Culture & Society. 42 (3), pp. 449 - 459. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443719899035

User trusts: broad-based ownership for online platforms
Schneider, N. 2020. User trusts: broad-based ownership for online platforms. Informatik Spektrum. 43, pp. 9-14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00287-020-01242-x

"Truly, Much Can Be Done!": Cooperative Economics from the Book of Acts to Pope Francis
Schneider, N. 2019. "Truly, Much Can Be Done!": Cooperative Economics from the Book of Acts to Pope Francis. in: Pasquale, F. (ed.) Care for the World: Laudato Si' and Catholic Social Thought in an Era of Climate Crisis Cambridge University Press. pp. 145-166

A Wantless, Workless World: How the Origins of the University Can Inform Its Future
Schneider, N. 2019. A Wantless, Workless World: How the Origins of the University Can Inform Its Future. in: Peters, M.A., Jandrić, P. and Means, A.J. (ed.) Education and Technological Unemployment Springer. pp. 229–244

Everything for Everyone: The Radical Tradition That Is Shaping the Next Economy
Schneider, N. 2018. Everything for Everyone: The Radical Tradition That Is Shaping the Next Economy. Little Brown Book Group.

An Internet of ownership: Democratic design for the online economy
Schneider, Nathan 2018. An Internet of ownership: Democratic design for the online economy. Sociological Review. 66 (2), pp. 320-340. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026118758533

God in Proof: The Story of a Search, from the Ancients to the Internet
Schneider, N. 2013. God in Proof: The Story of a Search, from the Ancients to the Internet. University of California Press.

Thank You, Anarchy: Notes from the Occupy Apocalypse
Schneider, N. 2013. Thank You, Anarchy: Notes from the Occupy Apocalypse. University of California Press.

Permalink - https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/w82vw/decentralization-an-incomplete-ambition


Share this

Usage statistics

35 total views
0 total downloads
These values cover views and downloads from WestminsterResearch and are for the period from September 2nd 2018, when this repository was created.